Lee Volleyball Drops Two At South Region Crossover

The Lee volleyball team was upended by No. 25 Florida Southern, 3-0 (25-21, 25-16, 25-22) in the nightcap of day one of the South Region Crossover.

The Lady Flames fall to 6-14 on the year after falling earlier in the day to top-ranked Tampa in straight-sets.

Lee will look to break into the win column on Saturday as they play Eckerd College at 1 p.m. and finish up the tourney with Saint Leo (5 p.m.).

The Mocs (15-4) moved to 2-0 on the day after scoring an impressive straight-set victory over No. 22 West Florida earlier in the day. The host-school has won eight straight matches and 11 of 12 overall.

Senior Latrice Johnson led the way early for the Lady Flames. The outside hitter tallied six slams in set one but  ended with just seven in the contest. Johnson would also record two aces. Lauren Williams and Brooke Wilsman followed with five kills each while Catherine Conley added four.

Lee had two players register double-figures in digs. Libero Stephanie Hernandez added to her team-leading total with 20. Haley Foote recorded a double-double with 14 assists to go along with 10 digs.

Rachel Mostert paced the Florida Southern attack with 11 kills. Kendall Marotti followed with nine. Ali Skayhan pitched in a double-double effort with 38 assists and 14 digs.

LU 0, UT 3
The Lady Flames drew a difficult assignment to kick off the South Region Crossover as they lost 3-0 (25-15, 25-19, 25-19) to the No. 1-ranked University of Tampa Spartans on Friday afternoon.

The two-day event features teams from the Gulf South Conference battling the Sunshine State Conference. The tournament is hosted by Florida Southern College.

The Spartans (16-1) wasted little time showing why they have the top-ranking in NCAA Division II as they opened up an 11-4 advantage on the Lady Flames in the opening set.

Lee would cut the deficit to six at one point in the set but couldn't draw any closer as Tampa held on for  25-15 victory.

The Lady Flames bounced back and forth with the Spartans in set two. Lee rattled off three straight points to pull within one at 17-16 but would draw no closer as Tampa closed on a 8-3 run to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the match.

Set three was more of the same as Lee fell by the same margin of 25-19. The Lady Flames are now 6-13 on the season but have faced a daunting schedule of late. The combined record of Lee's last five opponents is a sizzling 83-11.

Senior Lauren Williams led the attack for coach Andrea Hudson with 12 kills. Johnson and  Wilsman followed with five slams apiece. Sadie Johnson set things up with 16 assists while Hernandez tallied 10 digs.

The Spartans got 11 kills from Megan Heffron and eight slams from Berkely Whaley to pace the offense. Kahley Patrick set up the heavy hitters as she registered 33 assists to go along with eight digs in the contest.